I have taken 2 trips with America West. The first was an international flight and it was pretty 'normal' as normal goes for airlines, nothing special.<BR><BR>The second trip however was a disaster trying to return home!! A direct red eye flight from Vegas to TO was cancelled just as I checked in. They moved me into a connection flight they had in a few hours, they couldn't find another airline to put me on. I believe the connection was in Ohio, once I got there, there was another delay with the connection flight home! We actually boarded 2 airplanes and both came back to the gate due to malfunction! America West didn't offer any comments or try to make us comfortable in any way, after everyone complained the offered us vouchers for food with a $6 value!<BR>I looked for other airlines but none were leaving until evening. We finally got on a third plane half a day later without any sleep. On top of all this, they told us all to sign the back of our tickets which includes next of kin information. I have never been told to fill this out! In fact, I'd never read the back of my ticket. They told me they had to tell us that for international flights, on the way TO Vegas, they didn't make me fill it out. I didn't fill it out regardless and I can't even tell you how scared I was on the 1 hour flight home that I had to wait half a day to get on!<BR><BR>The airline sent me a voucher for $100 off my next trip with them. I am going to write them a letter just to let them know how disgusting this offer is, first I thought they'd send me an upgrade to first class at least and second, regardless of what they offer, I will not fly with them again! I will not waste my time and fear for my life when I can just fly with someone else who at least gives me good customer service!<BR><BR>But I'm home now and didn't lose my luggage so I feel lucky for my next trip.

Look, in the winter, there are weather delays etc. which nobody has any control over. I have had good flights with HP and bad ones too but then again I have had good flights with DL and bad ones, good flights with AA and bad ones, good flights with.....well you get the message.<BR><BR>There is one statistic nobody can argue with regarding America West. They have never had an accident and lost a single passenger since their inception in the mid 80's. They have problems no different than the other airlines.<BR><BR>Your connection was probably in Columbus where they have (or had?) a small hub operation which was opened in the long ago era of prosperity for the airlines.<BR><BR>You got home in one piece with your luggage. Count that as a plus.<BR><BR>On this very board, there is a post about a person flying Virgin which is supposed to be one of the great airlines having problems. <BR><BR>It happens with all airlines. If you can save $100 on an America West flight, which has lower fares than most other airlines anyway, why would you kick a gift horse in the mouth?

&quot;why would you kick a gift horse in the mouth...&quot;<BR>because that horse took a big shit on me. <BR>I have flown America West and I agree they do suck. There are too many reasons to list hear but from what I read from mv55, he/she has every right to complain.<BR><BR>xyz, you say that mv55 should be glad to get home in one piece with all the luggage....well DUH! that is what's supposed to happen! We shouldn<BR>'t praise an airline just because it gets us to where we want to go safely...they're supposed to do that. All the things you mention that AW does are things that should be done regardless of what airline it is. It's like saying, &quot;well at least I've never been to prison...&quot; <BR>dude, you're not supposed to go to prison.,<BR><BR>Airlines are paying these days partly because of their irresponsiblity and lack of proper managment in the past and if AW doesn't learn, they soon will be like a United or USAir. <BR><BR>

America West pulled out of their hub in Columbus due to financial reasons. That left a huge hole in flights in Columbus. <BR><BR>Just because an airline has not had a crash doesn't mean squat IMO if the airline has poor customer service which America West does.

Too bad America West pulled out of CMH. My wife is from ohio and it was good to have the option to fly there. I will agree, The airline was a joke and I can't see how they stay in business.

Let me make it clear, I didn't mean to be cavalier with the remark about getting home in one piece. If one was offended, I do apologize.<BR><BR>The point I tried to make and believe me I am not defending what happened in this circumstance and I quite sure mv55 had every right to complain about his treatment is stuff happens in the winter thanks to airports being shut, planes being unable to get where they are supposed to be, mechanical troubles (you would agree, cars have more mechanical problems in winter than in warmer weather) and the cancellation of flights is usually for safety reasons first.<BR><BR>Yes HP had and apparently has continued to have some problems regarding maintenance etc. but as a very frequent flyer, I can relate similar horror stories about flights I have had with other supposedly superior carriers. Believe it or not, I can even relate some good stories about HP.<BR><BR>HP's big problem is they really don't know what they are or are trying to be. Are they trying to be a regional point to point carrier like Southwest with whom they compete in many areas of the west or do they want to be a large carrier flying trans-continental flights as well as internationally? the international part (to Hawaii and Japan_ was a colossal failure and the cause of much of the financial distress the airline suffered and forced it into bankruptcy.<BR><BR>My feeling is to follow my nose to the best price...in many respects HP airfares are lower than the others. Often when flying to the west coast from NY I take HP and connect is either PHX or LAS rather than the non stop direct flights on AA, DL or TW (opps RIP), United (soon to RIP I suppose). Why? Well it is only an hour or two longer and I have a frequent flyer account with HP. Not that I use it with HP, but HP miles can be used on both BA and VS. If the fare is $30 or $40 lower, it is worth it to me. It may not be worth it to you and believe me you are not wrong to feel that way. And yes, I have been burned sometimes especially in winter. A couple of times, I missed the last connecting flight in Phoenix to San Diego after flying out of Kennedy. In a long ago era, they then put me up in a hotel which I didn't mind that much as it saved a night's lodging on the west coast. Yes it was somewhat annoying but again this usually happened only in the winter.<BR><BR>So please, I am not minimizing what happened to mv56 and I am not an apologist for HP airlines. I have read on other boards horror stories about Alamo car rental; yet I use them all the time because they have lower prices. And the one time I used Hertz, I could write a book of all the things that went wrong.<BR><BR>So much of this is simply the luck of the draw. If mv53 doesn't want to use his $100 coupon (and I am not saying it is adequate for what happened) he can always forward it to me...<BR><BR>Sorry again I didn't mean to offend anybody.

America West has a bad reputation. There have been severely delayed or cancelled flights. Only a few percentage of flights are like that but I think it is higher than other airlines in the USA

I too had a nightmare experience on AW. On a flight home from Vegas to Phila, they could not get the plane off the ground due to mechanical difficulties. <BR><BR>It was 114 degrees that day, and they could not even get the air on. Passengers could barely breath and started to try to exit the plane. The pilot then made an announcement that anyone who exited would forefit their ticket. Since there were four of us, we could not afford to take that chance though many people did. The sunburn made it even more uncomfortable.<BR><BR>Eventually they did get the air on, but still would not allow anyone off the plane. After over an hour they finally allowed passengers off. They announced to check back every couple of hours for update on the status of the flight. This was around 3:00 pm. <BR><BR>Eventually they finally cancelled the flight around midnight. At that time there were no available flights. The best part was when they told us that they had no idea if they still had our luggage. We were told that the luggage either went to Phoenix, Pittsburg, Columbus or COULD still be on the aircraft. Since they only HAD ONE PERSON PULLING LUGGAGE, we were told it would be around THREE HOURS before we would know. <BR><BR>They set us up in the worst Howard Johnson's I have ever seen! Couldn't use the shower because it was black with mold. We were on the upper floor, no indoor stairs only an outside fire escape. Now that doesn't sound too bad except when you think about hauling 13 pieces of luggage up a fire escape at 3:30 in the morning! We returned at 6:00 am to try again. That flight was also CANCELLED! Also,we had initally paid 75.00 extra per ticket for a nonstop flight but were not given that option on the rerouted trip which required lay overs, no compensation for that. I did write to complain and received vouchers. I noticed on the back of my aircheck plus cert. that it expires one year from issue, but no date was entered. They also did not put my name on them. Basically it's blank except for Employee Number. Does anyone know if I'll have a problem trying to use them?<BR>(yes, I know you're thinking are you crazy? what can I say I need the discount)